Bridging Philosophy and Reality
Human beings have always sought to understand the world around us. From the natural phenomena we observe to the abstract concepts we devise, our minds are constantly working to make sense of the universe. But here’s the catch: our understanding is never the full picture. No matter how much we refine our knowledge, the ideas we form are just reflections of the deeper reality, not reality itself.
This is the heart of what I call The Material World Split—the distinction between objective reality and our ideas about it. Empirical ideas, those formed through observation and evidence, give us the best possible understanding of the material world. But even they are merely representations. No idea, no theory, no explanation can ever truly capture the full essence of what “is.”
Our tendency to confuse our perceptions with reality itself is deeply ingrained. When we talk about gravity, for instance, we often treat our understanding of it as if it were gravity itself. But the truth is, even the most accurate scientific models are just descriptions, approximations of the forces at play in the universe.
This brings us to a timeless observation by Laozi, the founder of Daoism, who captured this idea over 2,500 years ago in a way that still resonates today:
“The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.”
These Laozi’s words start Chapter 1 of the Dao De Jing. The book consists of 81 short chapters. Chapter 1 is only 10 lines long.
His opening words remind us that no matter how much we try to understand or describe reality, we are always working with limited tools—language, perception, and thought. These tools help us navigate the world, but they cannot capture the full, eternal truth of the universe. It’s the idea that what we perceive is limited and that the true essence of reality (the Dao) cannot be fully captured by our senses or language. This split between the material world and our ideas about it is key to understanding.
Laozi and the Unknowable Dao
Laozi taught the concept of the “unknowable Dao”—the idea that the true nature of the universe is beyond human comprehension. The Dao, or the Way, represents the natural order and the force underlying all existence. However, according to Laozi, this force cannot be fully understood or expressed through words.
It’s a humbling idea that resonates across cultures and time. Take, for instance, the scientific understanding of light. We see the visible spectrum and may think it’s all there is to light. But science tells us that what we see is only a fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum. Our senses filter and interpret the world for us, presenting a partial, limited version of reality. What we understand, then, are mere shadows of the universe’s true nature.
“The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things.” –Laozi, Chapter 1, cont.
Laozi points out that the formless Dao is the source of everything in the universe, while the “named” or described world—what we experience—is just a fraction of the whole. Like the invisible light spectrum, the true nature of reality escapes our senses.
He reminds us that our words and understanding, however refined, can never fully capture the essence of the Dao, the underlying force of the universe. Just as we cannot grasp the full reality of gravity through theory alone, our descriptions of the Dao are only representations, not the reality itself.
His concept challenges us to consider that the words we use to describe the world—whether scientific, philosophical, or everyday language—are inadequate. Words capture fragments of reality but never the whole. Water, for example, can be described in countless ways: as a molecule of H₂O by chemists, as a vital resource by biologists, or simply as something to play with by children. None of these descriptions, no matter how comprehensive, can encapsulate water’s full essence. The truth, according to Laozi, always escapes full capture by language.
Linguistic Skepticism
The idea that words and ideas fall short of reality is what we now call linguistic skepticism. This skepticism questions whether language can ever fully express reality. Is there a disconnect between the words we use and the material world they aim to describe?
For Laozi, the answer was a clear yes: language, with all its limits, cannot convey the eternal truth of the Dao. But this idea is not confined to Eastern thought. It echoes throughout Western philosophy as well.
Immanuel Kant and the Noumenal World
Jump forward over two millennia to Immanuel Kant, one of the West’s most influential philosophers, born in 1724. Kant introduced his famous concept of Transcendental Idealism, which draws a distinction between two realms of reality: phenomena and noumena. Phenomena represent the world as we experience it—through our senses and understanding. Noumena, by contrast, refer to the world as it exists independently of our perceptions.
“Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.” –Laozi, Chapter 1, cont.
This suggests that if we are free from desires and preconceptions, we may be able to glimpse the deeper mysteries of the universe. However, our desires often keep us focused on the material manifestations—our limited understanding of the world.
Laozi’s passage emphasizes how our desires and perceptions limit what we can understand versus the deeper mysteries that lie beyond.
Kant’s noumenal world is, like Laozi’s Dao, unknowable. It exists beyond our senses and intellectual reach. Just as Laozi taught that the eternal Dao is beyond the grasp of words, Kant argued that the noumenal realm—the reality of things-in-themselves—cannot be directly known. All we can experience is the phenomenal world, the version of reality shaped by our senses and cognitive filters.
In this way, Kant’s philosophy mirrors the skepticism found in Daoism. Both philosophers teach that there is an unbridgeable gap between the world as it is and the world as we experience it. We live in the shadow of reality, our understanding forever limited by the tools we use—whether those tools are words, perceptions, or thoughts.
“These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery.” –Laozi, Chapter 1, final lines.
In this final thought of Chapter 1, he reiterates that both the manifested world and the deeper, mysterious Dao arise from the same source but are perceived differently. True understanding is shrouded in mystery, like darkness within darkness, beyond our reach.
The Idea of Ideas
This brings us to my own Idea of Ideas, which builds on the ideas of both Laozi and Kant. In my framework, I propose that there is a “split” between the Material World—the objective reality that exists outside our minds—and our ideas about it. This split represents the fundamental limitation of human understanding.
Kant’s noumena aligns with what I call the Material World. It is the objective reality that exists independently of our perceptions. On the other side of the split are our Ideas—the rational and empirical concepts we use to make sense of that reality. Kant’s phenomena—the world as we perceive it—falls into this category.
Both Kant and Laozi hint at the same profound truth: we cannot fully grasp the ultimate nature of reality. This idea remains relevant today, especially in light of modern science. For instance, consider the possibility that the universe contains more dimensions than we can perceive. If such additional dimensions exist, they may be fundamentally beyond our comprehension, like algebra is beyond a dog’s understanding.
Through the Idea of Ideas, I argue that reality exists independently of our minds, but our ability to understand that reality is limited—either by the innate structures of our cognition, as Kant proposed, or by the sheer complexity of the Material World itself.
The Material World Split and Scientific Exploration
Even in the scientific world, where empirical methods reign supreme, we encounter the Material World Split. Scientific theories, like all human ideas, are attempts to explain the world around us. But even science operates within the limits of human cognition and perception.
Take, for instance, the theory of relativity. It has dramatically expanded our understanding of the universe, but we still cannot experience time dilation or the curvature of spacetime firsthand. Our scientific models of these phenomena, while accurate and reliable, remain representations of reality, not reality itself.
Furthermore, as we explore quantum mechanics and the possibility of multiverses, we encounter ideas that challenge the very structure of our understanding. There may be aspects of the universe that we are intellectually unequipped to understand, no matter how far science progresses.
Conclusion: Embracing the Split
Laozi, Kant, and modern science all point us toward the same conclusion: the Material World Split is real. There is a divide between the material world—the objective reality that exists independently of us—and our ideas about it. This gap humbles us, reminding us that no matter how much we learn or how deeply we explore, there will always be aspects of reality beyond our reach.
But rather than see this as a limitation, we can embrace it. The pursuit of knowledge—through philosophy, science, or spiritual practice—is a journey, not a destination. And while we may never fully close the gap between the material world and our ideas about it, the very act of trying brings us closer to understanding the nature of existence.
In this way, the Material World Split does not represent a failure of human knowledge. Instead, it reflects the beauty of the unknown and the unending potential for discovery.
— map / TST —
Get the full story…
The Material World Split is just part of the many uplifting ideas explored in my “30 Philosophers” book. And, nothing replaces the ability of the long-format of a book to paint a more complete picture.
30 Philosophers: A New Look at Timeless Ideas
